Hatfields Furnishers - One of East Anglia's largest quality furniture stores

History

Over a century ago, in 1886, John Hatfield could be found in his front room at 31 St John’s Street, Colchester dealing in curios. The front room was used to store all his stock during the week’s business. Only on Saturday night was it cleared out and gradually restored to its original state so that he and his wife could enjoy the use of a normal front room on Sundays! This enchanting arrangement marked the establishment of Hatfields and the roots of what was to grow into the Colchester family business, known today as Hatfields Furnishers Ltd.

John Hatfield was born in 1847 and before founding Hatfields he worked hard outside the furniture industry. John served as a page boy to the Round family of Birch Hall and later became butler to William Gladstone’s son. This work often involved serving the Prime Minister himself on his visits to Hawarden Castle in North Wales. After years of serving others it is no wonder that John’s ambition led him to work for himself. His experience in the service industry, however, obviously stood him in good stead when building his own business catering for the needs of his customers.

John Hatfield was a popular character who noted his customers’ requirements on his paper shirt cuffs! This primitive paperwork was obviously successful and John’s business soon outgrew the front room of his house. To cope with this increase in demand, John acquired buildings across the road from his house and subsequently used them as a warehouse in which to store second-hand furniture. This furniture proved to be popular and indeed was also recently confirmed to be durable. A daughter of a man who purchased some second hand dining chairs from Mr. Hatfield in the 1880s contacted the present day company informing them that the furniture is still in use today, over a hundred years on!

John Hatfield and his wife had three sons and three daughters and in 1916 their youngest son, Arthur joined John’s business initiating its life as a family firm. The business expanded even further and more premises were purchased. The adjoining properties of 32, 33 and 34 St John’s Street were bought for Ł500. The new site included three cottages, 4, 5 and 6 Sir Isaacs Walk and a yard.

The advent of the first world war brought with it several changes for the Hatfields. Arthur left Colchester to serve his country with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. During this time the greenhouse in the Hatfields new yard proved to be very useful. In a slight diversion from furniture, the grapes growing in the greenhouse were sold over the counter for a halfpenny a pound. When Arthur returned he was faced with the gradual changes affecting the character of St John’s Street including the increasing amount of motor traffic along the road.

John Hatfield

The Hatfields resumed business as usual after the war and the firm continued to flourish. However, on the 13th of August 1930 John Hatfield was tragically killed. Minutes after giving his local policeman a photograph of himself, John stepped out in front of an oncoming van and later that afternoon died of his injuries in hospital. The following week a glowing obituary in the Essex Telegraph remembered John Hatfield’s interesting and lively character recalling such times as when he appeared in the 1926 Clacton carnival dressed as King Neptune, for which he won a Ł4 prize!

Five years later Arthur, who had taken over the business since his father’s death, decided to sell the St John Street properties. He moved the Hatfield business to 5 Stanwell Street where he continued to trade until 1981.

1943 was an important year for the survival of the Hatfield family business and its future continuation. This was the year that Elsie Hatfield, John Hatfield’s daughter, married John London. The link between the Hatfields and the Londons was thus established. After returning from the war, where he had served in the RAF in Iceland and Italy, John London joined his father-in-law in the business. John’s younger brother, Tony London, had spent his early working life in the Merchant Navy and the RAF. He subsequently joined his brother in the Hatfield furniture business in 1957.

Arthur Hatfield in a picture dating from the late 1910s outside the St John Street shop.

John and Tony worked for Arthur Hatfield until 1959. By this time Arthur, who had worked for the family business for over four decades, decided to retire and went to live in Hayes Road, Clacton where he stayed until his death, aged 88, in 1975

John and Tony London purchased the Hatfield furniture business on Arthur’s retirement and began to work towards making some changes in order to improve and expand the company. Without any staff John and Tony had to work extremely hard to build up the business. Over the following two years the brothers both worked six days a week and virtually every night, buying, selling and delivering furniture. In between carrying out this work they also managed to fit in some renovation and repair work as well as all the administration.

They soon found themselves needing extra help and just over a year after buying the business they persuaded their elder brother Stanley to join them. Stanley was busy running his own wholesale confectionery business in North Wales when his brothers asked for his help. He was approaching retirement at this time, and he expected that he would only be needed to work mornings to complete the book-keeping for his brothers and that he would be able to spend his afternoons leisurely on the golf course. Little did he know what his ambitious brothers had in store with their plans for development.

Arthur Hatfield (centre) with Tony London (left) and John London (right) prior to Arthurs retirement in 1959

In 1962 Stanley’s son David joined the firm after attending Hawarden grammar school during which time, by a remarkable coincidence, he had taken history lessons in the same castle that John Hatfield had served in many years before. A year later in 1963, the family took the opportunity to bring all their hard work to fruition by expanding the business. In the April of this year a 125 year old confectionery business, C W Hancock in St Botolph’s Street, Colchester, came on to the market. The site was purchased by the brothers for Ł16,500 and Tony was left to organise the conversion of the existing shop, the building work and the opening of the site. The shop adjacent to the new Hatfield shop was a toy shop, Moore and Roberts, owned by Mr Roberts. From the day that the London brothers moved in, they built up a friendship with Mr Roberts, so much so that it was agreed that they would buy his premises when he retired.

For now though, the London family concentrated on their newest purchase. The old factory buildings at the back of the newly built shop were, for the time being left untouched as warehouse space. The other buildings were converted into showrooms. These showrooms were carpeted throughout, centrally heated and spot-lit and rapidly gained a reputation for being the best furniture showrooms in the town.

The opening day of the new showroom turned out to be a memorable one for everyone concerned, a day that would go down in history. The date was Friday 22nd November and the showroom was opened in the morning without ceremony. An advert had been placed in the local newspapers prior to the event offering a free coffee table with every suite purchased. The Londons were hoping that this would attract a substantial crowd for the first day of trade.

St Botolphs street store during building work

Our Peartree Road Store today

However, two and a quarter hours after opening, not one customer had entered the showroom. This was a disappointment for Hatfields but eventually they managed to sell a fireside chair. The shop stayed open late, until eight at night, but unfortunately the takings for that first day only reached Ł59.19.6d.

It was only whilst Tony and David were standing outside the showroom, trying to create a crowd effect, that they discovered from a passer-by the reason for such a poor turnout – President John F Kennedy had been assassinated that very day.

Fortunately, the first day’s takings were not typical and the new showroom went on to become a success. However, only a year later, on the 13th April 1964, the showroom was to suffer another setback. Five fires were started in the town centre, one in the storeroom at the back of the St Botolph’s showrooms. The company bounced back from their misfortune and only five months later accidentally stumbled across what was to become a significant promotional technique for Hatfields. A special mink couch was featured in the window of the showroom, on offer at 2,000 guineas. The couch attracted a hugh amount of attention and brought large numbers of people in to the shop just to stroke it!

The steadily growing success of the business meant that in the August of 1964 the rest of the St Botolphs site could be developed. The storerooms were demolished and replaced with a two floor showroom costing Ł10,000. The opening of this showroom in 1965 broke records when a Ł100 advert became the largest ever advert placed in the local paper.

Inside part of our purpose built warehouse.

Two years on, in 1967 Hatfields furnished its first showhouse at the prestigious Welshwood Park. The showhouse was soon snapped up for Ł8,750 and this led to the furnishing of another house on the same estate. This was the first house in the country to be built to metric measurements and therefore secured further publicity for Hatfields when it was covered by both television networks.

In 1975 the Peartree Road building was acquired. Its office building, car park and warehouse made the site perfect for Hatfields. The ensuing extra work meant that Stanley, far from relaxing on the golf course, took on all legal and financial matters. John supervised the building work and Tony looked after St Botolphs, leaving David to take overall responsibility for the opening of Peartree Road. The actual conversion however, did not run smoothly. The construction of the first floor was delayed by a steel strike and at one point the opening deadline seemed beyond their reach. It took eight months to bring the ‘empty shell’ up to the standard Hatfields demanded. There was a last minute panic though when momentarily, the scissors for the Mayor, Councillor Joyce Brooks, to cut the ribbon with could not be found! These initial hiccups were soon justified when the original sales targets of Ł600,000 for the first year and Ł800,000 for the second year were exceeded.

Hatfields Current Board of Directors.
Seated Left to Right. David London, Debbie London, Tony London (Co-Chairman)
Standing Left to Right. Ivan Hawes (Sales & Operations Director), Robert London (Merchandise Director), Robert Fuller (Co-Chairman), Andrew London (Managing Director), Malcolm Durbridge (Finance Director)

Three years after the opening of Peartree Road, the staff had increased to 44 and a quarter of the first floor was opened as a showroom. This development saw staff from St Botolphs being brought in on Saturdays to meet increasing demands. Eventually, the St Botolphs store was closed. Half of the top floor at the Peartree site was opened to compensate for this closure and additional warehousing was build nearby and opened in 1980.

The old delivery vans were replaced with four Mercedes demountable bodies and two cabs. Also, David’s study tour of out-of-town stores in New York and Los Angeles prompted the installation of a new warehouse racking system and forklift trucks. The business was thriving and maintaining accurate adminstrative records was increasingly difficult. Hatfields was one of the first family owned retail furnishers in the country to become computerised when, in 1979, a Philips system was installed costing Ł35,000. This system was upgraded five years later and Hatfields donated the original computer with its six screens to Philip Morant School.

The eighties saw business booming. In 1984, the company appointed a General Manager. Also, a new training office was set up for the staff. It was also in this year that Stanley eventually retired to catch up with his golf he had been promised over 20 years previously! Television became the main medium for advertising Hatfields. In 1985 the actor Robert Powell starred in a 30 second advert for the company. Unexpectedly, the television advertising even attracted customers from Holland, the Dutch being avid watchers of British TV.

The year 1986 marked 100 years of trading for Hatfields since its establishment in 1886. This auspicious anniversary was celebrated in style by the company who achieved a million pounds in the first sale period of this Year. A 1920s style van was added to the fleet and a permanent carnival float was designed, built and donated to the town. A special lunch for local people who had reached their 100th birthday was held and an outing to a theme park was arranged for 100 local children. The company also sponsored a special performance by the London City Ballet at the Mercury Theatre as a tribute to the Hatfield family. The most spectacular event, however, was the centenary dinner held at Colchester Castle to which Ł5000 was donated for their restoration appeal. A total of 100 guests were invited and Terry Waite, the guest of honour, presented awards to ten local unsung heroes! The evening came to a close in grand style when the General Manager, Derek Wyatt, read a letter received from H M The Queen congratulating Hatfields on its centenary. Hatfields’ involvement in the local community continued after the events of the centenary, indeed the company has supported many local causes over the years. One such memorable event took place in 1987 when Hatfields was reported in the local press to have ‘brought down the Iron Curtain’. This story stemmed from the St Mary’s School balloon race that Hatfields had sponsored. The adventurous winning balloon had managed to travel 700 miles from Colchester all the way to Luzycka in Poland where it was found by Susanna Pyrezek. Hatfields then arranged for Susanna to visit England as a guest of the company for a week where she stayed with Tony London and his family. As the company moved into the nineties it continued to thrive. In 1988 Tony, in association with the manufacturer Sleepeezee, designed a range of divans known as BackChoice, with back sufferers in mind. Following the huge success of this range, Tony was asked to produce a range of beds for the Green Group, the largest furniture buying group in the country. The Green Group had 130 stores, including Libertys of London. A year later, a Hatfields range of furniture designed by their Chief Buyer, Don Massey, and sold in the Colchester store, was spotted by a Harrods’ furniture buyer, who subsequently snapped up the range for the Knightsbridge store. The exceptional success of Hatfields was officially recognised in 1994 when the company was voted the Best Independent Furniture Store in the country by representatives from the furniture trade. Today Hatfields boasts the one of the largest quality furnishing showroom in East Anglia with facilities ranging from car parks and lifts to baby changing facilities and an in-store coffee shop. The company now employs over 65 staff who are renowned as being ‘kind and considerate’ and indeed, are helping to ensure that the oldest and largest furniture store in Colchester continues on its steady path of progression for many more years to come.

		1994 retail award.